Triumphant

No more going to the gym at 10:30pm unless I want to, no more mandatory 10-18 mile runs in order to stick with my training plan, and no more days without raisinets!!! On Saturday, June 25th I ran the Seattle Rock N' Roll marathon and I am happy to report I made my goal!

My life the past 4 months has pretty much been consumed by running.  On June 11th I ran the Frisco (from Copper Mountain down to Frisco) half marathon as my last long training run.  Mikayla and her friend Elizabeth both ran the 10K.  It was a beautiful day for a run through the mountains.  I finished in 1:49:42... I was pleased with that considering it was at 9400 feet and there were some wicked hills!

With the training done, it was on to the big event... ready or not! I flew to Seattle after work on Wednesday, June 22nd and had a most wonderful vacation.  It was convenient that Ryan was flying home from being TDY that night so I got to ride with him to Brent and Ashley's house. 

Thursday Mom, Brent, Ashley, and I headed up to Canada.  We took a ferry along the way and even spotted a whale! It was mighty nice of it to breach 4 times - pretty awesome!

Ashley and I chillin' on the ferry

Mom and Brent chillin' on the ferry

On the ferry

We stopped and had a picnic as we made our way to Canada

We made it to Canada with no problems... only a major traffic jam and a lot of waiting as 5 lanes merged down to 1 lane during rush hour.  Fun! Fun! Once we arrived we had some time to walk to gas town and grab some dinner before the show. 

The Old Steam Clock

The weather was fabulous in Canada!

Mom and I at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Canada

Cute hat Mom!

We went to Canada to see the musical Wicked.  This was my second time seeing it and it was just as amazing this time as it was the first time I saw it.  Such a great show! Again the weather was perfect for us and we were able to walk from our hotel to the Queen's Theater (I think that is what it was called). 

When we were waiting in line to cross the border back into the States I saw some friends from Denver.  Random! The gal in the car right next to us got out to put something into the trunk and when I looked over I said, "I know her!" We were able to visit with Cat and Gabi for about 40 minutes as we both inched our way forward at the same time.  Too funny!

We met up with Ryan, Marcela, Reyes, Camilla, Jessica, and Tayler at the hotel.  It was then off to pick up our running packets at the expo since tomorrow was the big day!!!

We went to Applebees so we could carb load and eat a lot of calories before the race!

Ryan had a room at the hotel so he was able to stay with Reyes and Camilla while Jess, Marcela and I had a room with the idea of getting some good sleep before the race.  I slept great! I wish I could say the same for Jess and Marcela. 

This was it, the day I had been excitedly dreading had finally arrived.  It was a tender mercy that we had absolutely perfect running conditions that day.  It was about 50 degrees at the start and about 60 degrees when I finished.  Up at 4:45am, to the bus at 5:30am, and started at 7:23am.  Marcela and I were both in wave 13 to start, but we ended up staring with wave 17 or 18.  Since we were trying to start with the correct wave I think we ended up running an extra .3 miles before the race even started! We missed our start time due to the 50 minutes it took waiting in line for the fancy port-a-potty! I guess 26,000 people swarming about will delay you a bit!

Here we are before the race start.  I was scared to death! 

Once we got running I calmed down and settled into a nice pace.  I enjoyed running at sea level- I could breath! It was so fun to run by and hear Ryan cheer for me and then about a mile further (around mile 13 I think it was) I saw Mom, Brent, Ashley, and Tayler and I gave them high fives! I felt great at that point!

This is when I saw Mom, Brent, Ashley, and Tayler

Here comes Jess... in the back wearing purple

Marcela looking strong



There was a lot of "uphill" in this course... that wears me out! Seriously, from about mile 13.5 to 17.5 is a steady uphill! Argghhh! It was from about mile 19 to 25 that were the hardest for me.  I had a lot of help from my guardian angel who I'm sure was pushing me along! Thanks Dad! The last mile was fun since you run down the off ramp, round two corners and cross the finish.  Knowing that your lifetime goal of running a marathon was going to be realized within a matter of minutes gets the adrenaline pumping and makes that last mile easier.  It also helps knowing that your awesome family is waiting for you at the finish!  

Triumphant!

I was so excited to learn how Jessica and Marcela did in the half marathon.  That thought and being so proud of them for running helped get me through the last few miles as well.  Way to go Jessica and Marcela!

Happy to be standing at the end with these awesome girls! 

I hurt so bad when I finished.  My knee (a week later) has still not forgiven me for the beating I put it through.  Running 26.2+ miles is hard on the joints! Once I finished and met up with everyone I just laid down.  It felt good to be off my legs, but hurt as soon as I moved!

It looks like Mom is administering first aid in this picture- too funny!

Thanks to my awesome fans!

My goal was to finish in under 4 hours.  When I crossed the finish line I learned that my tracking chip did not work so I had no idea what my official time was.  I was pretty bummed! Side note: at the start when I was putting on my tracking slip on my shoe a guy, who was a "pro" since he just ran the Boston Marathon, came over and just started doing it for me.  Nice of him, but in the process he flattened it which broke the chip.  There was no way to know that it wasn't working properly until after I crossed the finish line and learned that Ashley never received the text messages with my splits.  Since I started with Marcela I at least had my start time and I estimated my time was anywhere from 3:52:00 to 4:02:00.  It wasn't until the official race pictures came out a couple days later when I learned that I really did reach my goal.  I'm thinking this was another tender mercy given to me since there was a picture showing me crossing the finish line with clock time which you could actually read.  So, my time, as accurately as I can figure, was 3:58:41!!!! I met my goal with a minute to spare! :^)

Marcela reached her goal and crossed at 1:59:02! Jessica was awesome to still run it after being so sick a couple days before, being on antibiotics, operating on very little sleep, and she still got a great time.  She came in at 2:31:29.  Nice going you half marathoners!

Saturday, I was hurting pretty bad.  With my arm around Jessica's shoulders I was able to make my way to the train so we could get to our car and eventually back to the hotel.  As soon as we got back to the hotel Jess and I immediately went to the hot tub and it felt soooo good! The healing power of the hot tub and a hot shower is amazing! I was able to walk much better though I was still not getting around all too fast and stairs were quite painful!

Saturday night we lounged.  We put on How To Train Your Dragon and ate delicous cookies! My sugar diet is over! It was just what the doctor ordered!

Brent just lounging... got to love that!

Sunday we went to Brent and Ashley's ward which meets at 9:00am.  We then enjoyed a glorious afternoon basking in the sunshine while sitting on the deck.  After playing a fun game of Ticket To Ride we headed over to Uncle Gary's house for a BBQ.  Agian, the weather was perfect! We had a fun evenign hanging with Uncle Gary, eating delicious burgers, and playing croquet. 

Uncle Gary and I

Would it be a family gathering without croquet?

Marcela showing us her skill!

Cute Camilla just chillin' with her dad!

Silly Ryan!

I flew back to Colorado on Monday and was back to work bright and early Tuesday morning.  I was quite pleased to see how fast I recovered (minus my knee of course) from running that long distance. I guess it helps being in the best shape of your life! I am so happy that I am done with this marathon and that I was able to meet my goal.  I still hate running, but I do love being in shape, so I very much look forward to going for a run and being done when I want to be done and not after I run for a certain amout of time or for a specific number of miles!

Thank you everyone for all your support and for the confidence you had in me.  Your confidence carried my through the times I lacked the confidence in myself.  You really were a tremendous help - Thank you! Sadly enough my vacation had to come to an end.  It was a fabulous 5 days!